One Immigrant's Plan to Ovehaul the U.S. Job Market

May 1, 2013

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Jobaline ranks the applicants according to how well they fit the employer's specified criteria. The process is transparent, so applicants can see where they rank and employers can see how many people have applied and listen to the answers the applicants provide to the interview questions. The site also confirms that the applicants live at the addresses provided. Jobaline does not check immigration status since it's not the final step in the hiring process. That would be up to the employer to do later.

Up until this point, everything is free and visible, except the applicants' contact information. Employers pay a fee for that information, from $6.95 to $2.95 per person, depending on how many applicants an employer chooses to consider. There is also a monthly subscription option.

During beta testing, Salazar said, Jobaline conducted about 2,000 interviews per week and saved hiring managers around 10 hours in pre-screening time per job post.

Applicants are notified if they are not selected, and invited to apply for nearby openings. Employers can use the site to hire long-term workers or short-term temporary workers, depending on their needs.

The site currently operates in Seattle, where Salazar lives, and Miami. With it's Hispanic population and significant number of hourly wage earners in industries like tourism, Miami provided "the perfect pilot market," he said.

The Jobaline founding team has eight members. Three are immigrants. They received $1.5 million in venture capital last year from Madrona Venture Group and angel investors.

Salazar says he wants to expand quickly to other cities and countries, and he's essentially crowdsourcing where to open next. Jobaline keeps track of visitors from outside Miami and Seattle. Dallas and San Diego may be options, as they've been popular in beta testing.

Latin American countries like Mexico and Venezuela are also good options because they have a high percentage of hourly wage earners and their populations are even more reliant on mobile devices.

"I'm a Hispanic entrepreneur and the Hispanic community is close to my heart," Salazar said, "but it's not necessarily at the top of the mind for most technology companies so I wanted to do something for Hispanics first."